Limelight Grand Slam Dinner
Once again, I am here to talk about an incredible dinner experience that I had at the Limelight hotel in Snowmass, CO, but this one has a bit of a difference because rather than highlighting one liquor/wine company, we in fact have drinks from a variety of vendors local to Colorado, all of which brought some of their best offerings to pair with an array of food prepared by Chef David and his amazing culinary team.
It was a very fun night, probably one of the best dinners at Limelight I’ve experienced so far, and I cannot wait to share all the details…or as many as I can remember after having 4 drinks that night.
But first, a word from our sponsor. (I’ve always wanted to say that)
One thing that I haven’t mentioned about these dinners is the fact that some of the profit from each dinner goes to a local charity, and the charity that the Grand Slam dinner was helping out was none other than Harvest for Hunger.
A nonprofit organization that began in Snowmass in 2020 when the world was in shambles, Harvest for Hunger serves a mighty cause in that they take in old, soon to be expired food that grocery stores and other food markets would normally throw away, and instead allows those less fortunate to have that food. Not only does it help reduce food waste in Colorado, but it also ensures that people who are in desperate need get that little bit of help they deserve.
Currently, Harvest for Hunger is taking food from City Market, Starbucks, Whole Foods, and even the Aspen Food & Wine festival and in 2023 they took in 95,871 pounds of food, and biding to a rule of 1.2 pounds of food per meal, that means that Harvest for Hunger was able to provide 224,943 meals for those in need.
If you’d like to learn more about this amazing cause, then you can use the link below the image. Now, back to the food.
Welcoming Course: Scallop crudo
Upon entering the always-stunning Limelight Lounge dining room and being given our first drink of the night, a drink labelled as ‘Tongue Tied’, made with ginger beer and Mary’s Select gin, a gin that’s infused with butterfly pea flower extract, from Woody Creek Distillers, a distillery in Basalt, CO, our amuse for the evening was a light and delicate scallop crudo topped with a nori rice cracker, soy glaze and cucumber.
I found that the light, delicate flavor of the tender little scallop blended perfectly with the umami rich soy glaze, and then the crunch of that little cracker on top of the scallop tied the whole thing together for me. It is a small bite but loaded with big flavor that paired wonderfully with the slightly spicy cocktail.
Course 1: Cucumber and Almond Gazpacho
Can’t decide between a soup or a salad? Why not have both?
Our next course for the evening brought some unexpected flavors, it was a cucumber-almond gazpacho topped with salad greens, honeydew melon and edible flowers. I cannot describe enough good things about that shallow bowl of gazpacho.
First off, the gazpacho itself had a very cool and refreshing flavor backed up by the sweet, subtle almond flavor that danced on my tongue in perfect harmony. Then you get a bit of extra sweetness from the honeydew and those crunchy greens to give the texture that such a light blended soup deserves.
To pair with this gazpacho, we given a choice between either a pilsner from Mountain Heart Brewery, located in Carbondale, or a chardonnay brewed by the same company. The pilsner is what was recommended by the Limelight manager who runs these dinners, so that’s what I stuck with, and I have to say that he was very much right.
Usually when I think if pilsners I think of something light but with a slight hoppy bitterness, this defied those expectations and rather had a light citrus flavor with just a hint of bitterness in the background that paired with that gazpacho like bread and butter.
Course 2: Sea Bass Wellington
Alright, if you thought the last course looked fancy, buckle your dress shoes because we are now about to take a turn into fancy-town with this stunningly presented sea bass wellington, which featured the fish, mushroom duxelles and collards greens wrapped in Filo pastry and baked, it is then served with a butter sauce.
And if that wasn’t enough, the whole dish was scattered with shavings of something that up until that night I had only dreamed about tasting, an ingredient that lately has been sold as cheap oil that could never live up to it’s natural earthiness and flavor. I, of course, speak of Italian summer black truffle, which Chef David made sure to rain down fresh for each and every diner.
This truly was one of the best things that I had ever tasted. First off, the sea bass was flaky and cooked to perfection with the earthy duxelles and bright greens to compliment the fish’s light flavor, all tucked within the confines of that ultra-crisp pastry with that slightly rich butter sauce underneath. And, of course, the true hero of that dish were those little black truffle shavings that have officially ruined truffle oil or any other truffle products for me, as they’ll never live up to what the fresh stuff is.
And if that wasn’t fancy enough, it seems fitting that inside little flutes next to that light wellington was champagne from France. I truly felt like a king as I was eating that course.
Dessert: PB&J trio
And now we end this glorious night with a bang, a bang that came in the form of a trio of desserts with flavors inspired by one of the most beloved childhood sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly.
First off we have a mini tart filled with blackberry jelly and peanut butter mousse, which I found to be both beautiful and full of those classic flavors. Next is a mini layered peanut butter cake filled with strawberry jam and lined with a lingonberry sauce, I found that the tartness of the jam paired wonderfully with the light cake. Last up is a mini meringue over a smear of peanut butter and a dot of grape jelly, it felt like the perfect representation of a deconstructed Pb&j sandwich with that crispy meringue to back it up.
But our final drink for the evening…oh my goodness. This was by far one of the most innovative and delicious cocktails I had ever experienced, it was a whiskey sour made of mixed berry infused Woody Creek bourbon that was topped with a peanut butter cream and another meringue kiss. First you get a sweet-tart flavor from that infused bourbon sour, then that rich peanut butter cream comes in and makes you believe you’re drinking a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
It was a perfect course to finish off a perfect night.
